new york
Estranged husband held in wife's death
GARDEN CITY — Maureen Steeves started what seemed like a normal day in suburbia cooking and doing laundry while her estranged husband ran errands and took their two teenage sons to a high school football game.
But later that day she was found unconscious on the kitchen floor. And three days after that, David Steeves took their sons to England on one-way tickets.
Maureen Steeves died at the end of October and an autopsy found the cause of death was potassium cyanide poisoning. Prosecutors say her husband had laced her coffee with the lethal chemical.
Authorities say David Steeves, 43, who was arrested after he returned from England, didn't want to see his wife dating anyone else after they divorced. Prosecutors also have suggested he may have gotten instructions for killing his wife from "The Mujahideen Poisons Handbook," which was found on his laptop computer.
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kentucky
Admit God's help, security office told
LEXINGTON — A lawmaker says the state's Homeland Security office should be crediting God with keeping the state safe.
State Rep. Tom Riner, a Southern Baptist minister who was instrumental in establishing that requirement in 2006, disapproves of the fact that Homeland Security doesn't mention God in its mission statement or on its Web site.
The law passed under former Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who prominently credited God in annual reports to state leaders. But Gov. Steve Beshear's administration didn't credit God in its 2008 Homeland Security report issued last month.
The law that organized the Homeland Security office first lists Homeland Security's duty to recognize that government itself can't secure the state without God, even before mentioning other duties.
new jersey
Suspect not cut out to be a bank robber
MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP — A standoff at a New Jersey bank is over after police learned a "person" seen inside was actually a full-size cardboard figure.
Officers went to the PNC Bank in Montgomery Township Thursday night after an alarm went off. They saw what they thought was at least one person through the bank windows.
Authorities used bullhorns and made telephone calls in a bid to make contact with whoever might be in the bank.
After repeatedly failing to get a response, a SWAT team entered the building and discovered the cardboard figure.
It was not immediately clear what set off the bank alarm.
iowa
Obama link boosts cafe's cookie sales
DES MOINES — Want an example of the change Barack Obama is bringing? Check out cookie sales at Baby Boomers Cafe in Des Moines.
Ever since word spread about the president-elect and his family's fondness for Baby Boomers' chocolate chunk cookies, the small downtown restaurant can't bake them fast enough.
The Obamas were frequent visitors to the cafe in the summer of 2007 when the Illinois senator devoted much of his time to Iowa.
texas
Doctor gives up on separating twins
DALLAS — Twin girls born joined at the head have overcome long odds, but the doctor who brought them to the United States to be evaluated for surgery now says there's no longer any chance they will ever lead separate lives.
Anastasia and Tatiana Dogaru, 4, were born in Rome to Romanian parents. The top of Tatiana's head is attached to the back of Anastasia's.
Tatiana has had to undergo heart surgery. Anastasia relies on Tatiana's kidneys.
However, the twins have become smart, active girls, said Dr. Kenneth Salyer, chairman and founder of the Dallas-based nonprofit World Craniofacial Foundation.
Physicians at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland had hoped to separate the girls, but that surgery was deemed too dangerous and was called off in August 2007.
Salyer had hoped to prove that wrong, but was forced to give up.
